


a call from home

by anissa_qiaolian



Series: The Book of ThunderQuake [6]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Black Lightning (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Gen, Pre AOS Season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-09 20:44:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19894069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anissa_qiaolian/pseuds/anissa_qiaolian
Summary: Freeland gets another visitor; Daisy and May have a chance to hash things out





	a call from home

**Author's Note:**

> I just had to include some Maydaisy angst

A figure in all black shows up at Gambi’s as soon as he opens shop the next morning. She walks up to his counter with pursed lips and eyes that hold a lot of expressions, but show mostly rage. She crosses her arms and sizes him up.

Gambi squares his shoulders and stares back at the tiny Asian woman without fear, though he’s gotta admit he’s a bit unnerved.

He’s done his research; he knows exactly who she is. And chances are she knows who he is, too. His hand lingers on the edge of the counter, hovering over the firearm strapped underneath.

He knew this would happen.

He’d been searching his databases on anything he could find about the young vigilante since the moment she crash landed in Freeland. Johnson covered her tracks well, and the only information he could find on the homeless hacktivist turned hero were redacted to hell and back by SHIELD.

He did know that Daisy considered the top members of SHIELD her family, and it was highly likely they’d scour the globe chasing after her.

He just didn’t think it’d be her, alone.

“I’m looking for Daisy Johnson. Where is she?”

Her eyes narrow into suspicious slits and he’s about ninety five percent sure she already knows the answer. His face is carefully blank when he answers: “I’m afraid that’s not my business to tell.”

Melinda May’s expression doesn’t change much except for a twitch of her eyebrow that indicates her irritation.

“Like hell it isn’t! SHIELD’s surveillance showed Daisy and your protégé Black Lightning right here yesterday morning, along with the other local vigilante, Thunder. You know who Black Lighting is. And you know where Daisy is. All you have to do is stop fucking with my patience and tell me _where._ ”

Agent May was all but shaking with rage. But he knew that underneath all that anger was hurt, desperation, and maternalistic worry.

Gambi knew a thing or two about becoming a pseudo-parental figure to a broken, superpowered orphan.

He sighs. “Give me a moment.”

She stood watch as Gambi pulled out his cell phone and dialed the Pierce household’s number.

“Hello?” It’s Jennifer’s voice.

“Hi honey. It’s your Uncle Gambi. Is Daisy Johnson still staying at the house?”

Jen laughs. “Oh yeah, she is  _ definitely _ still here. I’m pretty sure I heard her and Anissa f – doing the devil’s tango last night. Anissa always brings her conquests to her room like her walls aren’t thin as hell. And then she says  _ I’m  _ reaching when I bring it up. Wait – why are you asking if Daisy’s still here?”

May raises a brow and Gambi puts a hand on his temple, getting way more information from his niece than he needed to hear.

He tries to put the uncomfortable bits of what he’d just heard aside and focused back on getting Daisy Johnson here fast, before her angry mama bear loses any more of her patience.

He could tell it was quickly running out.

“Ok hon, I need Daisy to come by the shop immediately. Somebody from SHIELD is here to see her and I don’t think she should leave them hanging.”

There’s a pause on the other line.

“Aren’t SHIELD the guys she’s running away from?”

“Well no, they’re her family, and someone very important to Daisy is here for her now. Just tell her that Agent May is here to see her and let her decide if she wants to come by and talk. Okay?”

Another pause. “Yeah alright. Talk to you later.” Jennifer sounded a little glum.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.”

He hung up the phone and they waited with bated breath to see if Daisy would choose to meet May at the shop. He hoped she got there soon.

The steadfast glare May was still giving Gambi was starting to make him uncomfortable.

**

Daisy didn’t know what she was expecting, but she sure as fuck wasn’t prepared for May to lunge at her.

Daisy’s smile at seeing May was soon replaced by worry and slight fear as she narrowly dodged her mentor’s attack.

“May, what the hell?!”

May was pissed. And she didn’t know why.

Daisy and May danced around the shop and Gambi slowly started to back out.

“I’ll be waiting in the back,” said Gambi. They didn’t hear him.

Daisy was still focused on May throwing punches at her in a bizarre anger that she had never seen before. Let alone been the target of.

Another swing. “How many times are just gonna run off every time things get dicey?”

Daisy blocks May’s attack but she doesn’t fight back. Not against May. Never against May, not after…

“I trained you better than this, Daisy, and here you are still acting like a coward.”

May was sneering and seething her words. Her attacks were speeding up and it was getting hard for Daisy to dodge them all. Daisy’s eyes started to well up with tears before her brain even processed what May was saying.

“May”, she said softly. “Please. It wasn’t about you I just…”

“You just what?” May lands a hit this time, just below Daisy’s jaw. She can tell that May is holding back some because she didn’t knock her clean out, and it’s the only thing keeping her from completely breaking down.

“Are you really going to spend the rest of your life running every time life get hard?”

May spun around to where Daisy hid in fury. Her words cut icy deep in Daisy’s chest and her lips started to quiver. May jabbed at her stomach and continued.

“You think your life is bad? Think you’ve got it tough? Bad things happen, people fall out, and they die. If you want to keep acting like the scared little girl you were when I first took you in then be my guest. In fact, why don’t you change your name back to Mary Sue Poots while you’re at it. Seems like a good fit these days.”

Daisy dodges the next attack with a little force and pushes May back, not that in any way that actually moves her. Her stance is firm. She kicks out at her feet and Daisy goes down. Her voice is tired and broken and comes in a sad little whisper.

“May, that isn’t fair.”

Tears fall freely from her face now and she hides them by twisting her head away. She doesn’t try to get up. May doesn’t help her up.

“Isn’t it, though?”

May’s voice has lost most of its edge and is now dangerously close to breaking. Her breath catches in her throat and Daisy looks up to see her mentor’s eyes shining with unshed tears.

She realizes too late the comment May makes about death and turns ashen.

“Coulson…is he…?”

May nods minutely and something about that small, defeated gesture makes Daisy snap.

“Oh God…” Sobs wrack up her chest, cold and heavy, and all the grief she’s been trying to hide from the past few weeks comes crashing back.

May puts a hand on her shoulder and Daisy leans into it without even hesitating. Their fight was over. It all made sense now. Coulson was gone.

Dead.

And Daisy was out galivanting in a place she didn’t belong and dying her hair stupid colors and pretending to act unbothered and fucking local vigilantes that still had their ex-girlfriend as their lock screen.

“Oh God May…oh God. I’m so sorry.”

Daisy’s frame shook with tears and soon May was crying her own silent sobs. She was choking on air a little to hide the larger sobs from Daisy and it was the most heartbreaking thing she’d ever seen.

May, who just lost the love of her life, was still trying to be strong for her.

And fuck, that hurt.

Daisy cried for own selfishness.

Even now, the first thought she had after hearing of Coulson’s death was to weep over losing her father figure. She had never imagined what it could possibly feel like to lose a life partner you’ve known for thirty years.

She wept for Coulson and May’s romance that started way too late and ended far too soon.

She cried for her own guilt.

May helped her stand up and wrapped her thin arms around her in a hug. “Life isn’t fair, Daisy. Especially not for us.” Her tone was soft and sad. She cleared her throat and forced her voice to become steely again, but emotion still seeped through as she cried the rest of her tears.

“We’re having a memorial on Tuesday. You don’t have to come. You don’t have to come back to SHIELD at all. But if you want to”, another voice break, “if you want to, you know where to find us.”

She turned out the shop and left.


End file.
